The Prayer of Faith

It’s very encouraging when others pray for you, isn’t it?. However, it’s also very encouraging to take your concerns and fears to God yourself in your own prayers, if your prayer life is a healthy one, that is. Some people are not as comfortable praying themselves and don’t find their own prayers that encouraging, at all. If that’s you, you need to change. You need to develop a healthy prayer life and take advantage of the power of prayer.

James wrote, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Now, there’s more to that verse. James is really dealing with those who go through life with selfish motives. They’re only concerned with themselves. You cannot expect to get what you want, or even need, that way. In verse 3 he says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” Let us go back to that little part of verse 2. “You do not have because you do not ask!” Wow!! I wonder how many times I failed to receive a blessing simply because I didn’t ask for it.

Some of you reading this right now may have a tough day ahead of you. Maybe a co-worker is giving you fits. Maybe your boss is threatening to fire you. Maybe a classmate or teacher is the thorn in your flesh. Wouldn’t now be a good time to pause and take this concern to God? Tell Him how you feel. Yes, I know that He already knows, but He instituted prayer for your benefit, not His! You’ll feel better if you start talking to God on a daily basis.

Do you need more wisdom to know how to deal with these kinds of problems in your life? Well, just ask!  But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8). You need to ask God for wisdom and when you ask, expect to receive it. Now, don’t expect to get something that feels like an electrical shock and so you’re now wiser than you were. What you ought to expect is that God is going to answer your prayer by exposing you to His wisdom found in His word. The answer to your prayer is already here. You can read and study His word and be exposed to His wisdom, and when you obey that word and learn that His way works, your wisdom grows and your prayer is answered.

You need to know that you’re not in this (your struggle) all alone. Your friends, who love and care for you, are with you. And God is with you, too. Even if all the rest leave you to the wolves, He’s not far away. He loves you and so do I.

Donnie Bates

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Psalm 23 is no doubt one of the most famous passages of Scripture in the whole Bible. It’s a comforting thought to know “the Lord is my Shepherd,” isn’t it? The Psalmist writes: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. That means with God in control, I don’t have anything to worry about. What a comforting thought! 

There is a lot in my life and in yours that tries to make us worry and be concerned or discouraged. You don’t need me to tell you that. It may be that you’re heading out the door this morning to an uncertain job situation, or to some other stressful event. Well, if the Lord is your Shepherd, you don’t have to worry about it. I don’t mean that you can just ignore the problem and it’ll go away. There may well be some responsibility that you bear. The point is that with the Lord as your Shepherd, it’s a load you can bear. 

Do you understand what it means to “fear no evil”? The psalmist says he will fear no evil even though he walks through “the valley of the shadow of death.” That means there’s nothing that can cause him to fear! Once again, that’s you if the Lord is your Shepherd. Stop and think about this for a minute. One manifestation of evil is that nagging thought in your mind that the things you have to face today, or this week, are worse than anything anyone else has to face and are too difficult for you to endure. The problem itself may not be the evil; it’s the temptation to give up that’s evil. You don’t have to be afraid of that evil.

Did you ever wonder at the phrase: “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life…”? You may be thinking that you’ve made the Lord your Shepherd for many years, but it doesn’t feel like goodness and mercy have followed you all the days of your life. We need to understand that the good that God has in store for us doesn’t always feel like the good we human beings think we should have. The child whose parents make him suffer the consequences of his actions may not feel like that is goodness and mercy, either, although such a lesson may very well save his life one day. By the same token, the things we suffer in this life, if we suffer them faithfully, are producing in us an endurance that will help us be strong in the Lord (James 1:2,3). 

This week, as you struggle through life, remember that there is One Who will help you get through the toughest of times. Stop trying to think that it’s all about you. Try to think of yourself as a sheep in the fold of God. Let Him take the troubles off your shoulders. It will be an easier life if you do. Remember, God loves you and so I.

Donnie Bates